Slow Cooker Chicken Korma

A korma made in a slow cooker has one problem to solve: the sauce. Left to itself, chicken and aromatics in a covered pot for four hours produce a thin, pale liquid. This recipe solves it at the end rather than the beginning, by blending raw cashews into coconut milk and stirring that in for the last twenty minutes.

The chicken is thigh, cut into inch-and-a-half pieces, and it goes into the cooker already coated in a spiced yogurt marinade. That is where most of the ground spice in the recipe lives - the coriander, cumin, turmeric and chili powder are all whisked into the yogurt at the start, along with the first of two teaspoons of garam masala.

There is one pan to wash before the slow cooker takes over. The onions need seven minutes to colour, and the garlic, ginger and tomato paste need a minute after them. Everything else happens in the pot.

Why This Recipe Works

• The yogurt does two jobs at once. It coats the chicken so the ground spices stay on the meat instead of sinking, and it goes into the pot with the chicken rather than being wiped off, so nothing is thrown away.
• Cashews blended into coconut milk thicken without flour or cornstarch. Because they are blended completely smooth - the source specifies one to two minutes - they disappear into the sauce rather than reading as ground nuts.
• Splitting the garam masala means the spice is both cooked and fresh. The first teaspoon goes in at the start and spends the whole cook in the pot; the second goes in at the end and still tastes of itself.
• Whole cinnamon and a bay leaf season the liquid without clouding it, and both are removed before serving, so nothing in the finished dish has to be eaten around.

How to Make It

1. Marinate the chicken

   Whisk the yogurt with the lemon juice, coriander, cumin, turmeric, chili powder, one teaspoon of the garam masala, the salt and the sugar if you are using it. Add the chicken and coat it well. Leave it while you prepare everything else - ten to fifteen minutes is what the recipe asks for.

2. Colour the onions

   Warm the ghee in a skillet over medium heat and cook the sliced onion for five to seven minutes, until it is golden at the edges. The source offers a multi-cooker sear mode as an alternative to a separate pan.

3. Bloom the garlic, ginger and tomato paste

   Stir the garlic, ginger and tomato paste into the onions and cook for one minute, until fragrant. This is a short step and the only one with any urgency in it.

4. Start the pot

   Scrape the onion mixture into the slow cooker and add the cinnamon stick and the bay leaf. Then add the marinated chicken, yogurt and all, and toss it through.

5. Cook it low

   Cover and cook on Low for four to five hours, or on High for two to three, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

6. Blend the cashew cream

   While that is happening, blend the cashews with the coconut milk until completely smooth. The recipe gives one to two minutes. Smooth matters here - any texture left in the nuts will still be there in the finished sauce.

7. Finish the sauce

   Stir the cashew-coconut cream and the remaining teaspoon of garam masala into the cooker and give it fifteen to twenty minutes on Low to thicken. For a thicker sauce, take the lid off for the last ten to fifteen minutes.

8. Adjust and serve

   Remove the bay leaf and the cinnamon stick. Adjust the salt and the lemon, then stir in the chopped cilantro. Serve over basmati rice or with warm naan, with more cilantro and toasted nuts on top if you like.

Why the Garam Masala Is Split

The ingredient list says 'garam masala, divided', and the two halves do different things. The first teaspoon is whisked into the yogurt at the very start and spends four hours in the pot with the chicken. By the time the dish is done it has stopped tasting like a separate spice and has become part of the background.

The second teaspoon goes in at step 7, with the cashew cream, and only cooks for fifteen to twenty minutes. That one is still recognisably itself in the finished sauce.

If you put the whole two teaspoons in at the start, nothing goes wrong - but the finished dish is flatter, because the top note is gone. It is worth measuring the two separately rather than eyeballing one addition.

Ingredient Notes

Chicken thighs

Boneless and skinless, trimmed, cut into inch-and-a-half pieces. The size matters more than it looks - the pieces need to stay whole through four hours, and smaller ones will shred.

Raw cashews

Raw, not roasted or salted. The source offers blanched almonds as a direct alternative. Either way they are blended with the coconut milk rather than added whole.

Full-fat coconut milk

Specified as full-fat. It is the liquid the cashews are blended into, so it is carrying the thickening rather than just adding volume.

Kashmiri chili powder

The source offers mild paprika as the alternative, and gives a range of half to one teaspoon rather than a fixed amount.

Plain whole-milk yogurt

Dairy-free yogurt is named in the ingredient list as an equal option. The recipe's own dairy-free route is in the FAQ below.

Ghee

Neutral oil is given as a straight substitute. It is used once, for the onions.

Serving Ideas

The recipe serves it over cooked basmati rice, with warm naan, or both - the ingredient list offers them as alternatives to each other. More chopped cilantro and toasted slivered almonds or cashews go on top. If you want something with a sharper edge alongside a mild sauce like this one, the lime and cabbage in our Crockpot Honey Lime Chicken Tacos work in a completely different direction.

Success Tips

• Blend the cashew cream longer than feels necessary. It is the only thickener in the recipe, and any grain left in it stays in the finished sauce.
• Do not skip the minute the tomato paste spends in the hot pan. The source puts it there with the garlic and ginger rather than adding it to the cooker directly.
• If the sauce is thinner than you want at the end, take the lid off for the last ten to fifteen minutes rather than adding anything to it.
• Fish the cinnamon stick and bay leaf out before you stir the cilantro in - they are easier to find before the herbs go on top.

Storage and Reheating